Every two weeks, I teach a youth Sunday school class at church. Here’s a key insight from our lesson.

Yesterday, we had a conversation about a person in the scriptures who avoided choosing a victim mentality and instead chose an ownership mindset.

The reality is, we can’t fix a problem unless we accept responsibility for our role in the problem. Here’s a quote I shared from Rocky:

“Let me tell you something you already know… Nobody is gonna hit as hard as life. But it ain’t about how hard you hit. It’s about how hard you can get hit and keep moving forward… You gotta be willing to take the hits, and not pointing fingers saying you ain’t where you wanna be because of him, or her, or anybody! Cowards do that and that ain’t you. You’re better than that!”

Life can be really hard at times. It isn’t always fair. Problems are everywhere. But we can’t fix problems when we blame others.

When we commit to taking full responsibility—when we own the outcome and stop making excuses—everything changes.